Alternative (sic) music of the last 30 years

Another Man, Another Murder – The Red Hourglass (reprise)

I’ve written about this before but think that it’s more than worth another shot. After all, you’d expect me to write about some bands several times in the one year. So why not a show?

After the success of ‘The Red Hourglass’ at the Edinburgh Fringe, Alan Bissett has been taking his one man show out and round the country. So last night 3/4 of the Manic Pop family planted themselves in the front row at the Byre Theatre for the second of four shows in St Andrews.

In the course of an hour Bissett occupies the role of 6 characters, 4 spiders, a wasp and a human – four male, two female. By turns hilarious, menacing, sultry and brutal, the play introduces the audience to the inhabitants of a perspex tank. Not everyone’s going to make it to the end of the show and the bigger they are, the harder they fall.

Bissett’s energetic performance brings to live the different characters with the help of a pair of specs and high heeled boots. Relishing the different roles, his use of language in the play is a joy. Want to know a spider’s take on Robert the Bruce? Then this is the play for you.

The show’s essentially the same as the Edinburgh version with the only noticeable difference being the rather apprehensive way that the St Andrews joke was delivered. Btu it’s actually more enjoyable second time around and the improved acoustics in the theatre and the fact that the clothes rack can be hidden off stage both add to the experience.

For MPK1 it was his first experience of such a performance and to be fair it was probably slightly cruel putting him in the middle of the front row as he was unsettled early on by a flying karate kick inches from his face! But he ended up really enjoying the whole thing.

I really can’t recommend this show highly enough. And there’s still plenty of dates on which to catch it around Scotland.